Togo’s official election coordination and monitoring body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), has officially cleared seven candidates who met its stipulated requirements. This is coming just days before the Togolese voting community heads to the polls for the country’s upcoming controversial presidential elections, scheduled to take place on February 22, 2020.
Who are these Candidates?
The seven candidates cleared include incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé – under the Union for the Republic party – who is seeking re-election for the third time since coming into office in 2005, following the death of his father, Gnassingbé Eyadéma. President Eyadéma’s tenure lasted nearly forty years after a 1967 coup d’état that saw him overthrow the country’s second president, Nicolas Grunitzky.
Joining Gnassigbé in the race is a strong opposition leader and president of the National Alliance for Change (ANC), Jean Pierre Fabre. Memorably, Fabre was his closest rival at the 2015 polls which resulted in a publicly criticised election process with results that had to be contested in court.
Also tossing his hat in the ring with the backing of a coalition of parties proposed by the Togolese Bishop Phillipe Fanoko Kpodzro – a popular critic of Gnassingbé’s government, is Dr Agbeyome Kodjo, head of the Patriotic Movement for Democracy and Development (MPDD). Kodjo is expected to be a serious contender at the polls if it is organized and tallied without bias or influence from the State House.
Rounding up the list are; Professor Tchaboure Gogue, 73, Alliance of Democrats for Integral Development (ADDI), Dr Georges William Kuessan, 53, People’s Health Party, Mr Mohamed Tchassona Traore, 60, Citizen Movement for Democracy and Development (MCDF) and Professor Komi Wolou, 56, Socialist Pact for Renewal (PSR).
This announcement comes a day before official campaigns kick off on February 6, 2020.
Lack of Faith in the Polls
A tour carried out in Togo at the start of the year by the Ghana News Agency and published in BusinessGhana.com showed that although some people in the country were excited about the upcoming elections and a chance for change, a vast majority had a more pessimistic outlook, predicting that no other candidate could win as long as incumbent President Faure Gnassingbé was in the race.
“Whether we vote or we don’t vote, we know who is winning.”
Gnassingbé, who had won elections in 2005, 2010 and 2015, was able to scrap the two-term limit for Togo’s presidency in 2017, allowing him to seek re-election in 2020 and 2025 if he wants to.
